Courageous victim speaks out as rapist is jailed for 17 years

Terence John Beebe, 68, of Lime Walk, Long Sutton, Spalding, Lincolnshire, has been jailed for 17 years after he was found guilty of four indecent assaults and five rape counts against a girl when she was aged between 12 and 15.

He was also found not guilty of one count of raping the complainant between November and December 1981 but after a jury failed to return a verdict on other matters a re-trial was ordered concerning rape allegations.

And the jury in a week-long re-trial found Beebe guilty on Monday of five rape counts from November, 1981, to February, 1985.

After the trial, the Chesterfield woman told the Derbyshire Times how she had felt overwhelming relief after her attacker has been brought to justice.

She explained how it had been a very painful period for her and her family but she praised relatives, friends and family for their support.

The complainant said: “It has been very emotional and the fact that the court has come back with a sentence of such magnitude shows that I have been vindicated.

“I have had nothing but exemplary treatment from the whole justice system and the police and I have been supported by my family throughout. I have nothing but praise for everyone.

“I was shocked by the length of sentence but it is no less than he deserves. I have never felt defined by this. I am still me and he has not taken that away from me.”

The complainant also stressed that it is important for victims in similar cases to come forward to bring offenders to justice and prevent them from re-offending and she is considering volunteering with a charity to help those in similar situations

Prosecuting barrister Tony Stanford told the court that Beebe knew the complainant’s family when he began indecently assaulting her when she was 12 years old.

The attacks began after Beebe approached her because he wrongly thought she had a crush on him.

Mr Stanford said: “She said he took her hand and he said, ‘I know how you feel about me and I know what you have written in your diary and I can show you what happens’.”

Mr Stanford said that on one occasion Beebe drove into a layby and began kissing and molesting the complainant in his car.

Days afterwards, the complainant claims she was raped the first time when she had been left alone with Beebe and alleged rapes continued during the next few years at a garage and at an empty property in Hollingwood.

Mr Stanford said: “The defendant took up jogging and started taking the defendant with him and it was a pre-text to get her alone. And he would take her to a garage and he would rape her and she described being raped on a dirty pink rug in that garage.

“From the age of 13 the jogging stopped and he started picking her up from school and he told her to wait at a nearby phone box for him to call.”

Mr Stanford added the abuse stopped when Beebe’s relationship with the girl’s family broke down.

The complainant reported Beebe to police in 2015 after a health scare raised issues about her earliest sexual activity.

She tracked Beebe down and sent him taunting emails and pursued a prosecution after she had been given confidence by the success of high-profile sex offence cases.

Beebe, now of Lime Walk, Long Sutton, near Spalding, in Lincolnshire, denied all the sexual and rape allegations and claimed they were made up and the complainant had been infatuated with him.

But Judge Robert Egbuna outlined Beebe’s previous convictions and the previous rape acquittal to the jury before they found him guilty of the five rape counts.

The court heard how three of the five rape counts had included multiple offences.

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